by Abby Henson | 3 Sep, 2018 | Blog, Sales Figures
August was another excellent month for S4Labour customers, and the wider UK hospitality industry, our latest research has found. Like for like sales were up on average 3.9% compared to 2017’s revenues, as businesses across all sectors and trading styles enjoyed an increase in both wet and dry takings.
Drink sales were the main driver behind the strong results, with food-focused operators seeing a 5.6% rise on 2017’s level and wet-led venues not far behind with a 5.2% increase. Food revenues were also very healthy – up on average 1.8%. Again dry-led sites were the biggest winners, enjoying a 1.8% boost compared to last year. Drink-led operators were again not far behind, with on average a 1.4% rise.
This rounds off an extremely good summer for revenues across British hospitality. May and June both saw like for like revenues up in excess of 5%, although July brought a slight dip in sales. Much of the strong summer trading has been ascribed to fine weather and the World Cup, but as August’s weather was variable and England’s exploits are now just a memory, operators will be cheered by the continued positive trend.
by Abby Henson | 3 Jul, 2018 | Sales Figures
June was a superb month for sales for S4Labour customers, our latest analysis has found.
Research into over 100 organisations across all industry sectors revealed that average like for like revenues were up 5.4%. Recent fine weather and the start of the World Cup are likely factors in the increase, with drink sales 6.7% and food sales 3.3% up on average. Wet-led operators were the biggest winners, enjoying on average a 5.9% rise, while food-focused venues saw a 4.9% increase.
This follows on from strong May, which also saw revenues over 5% above 2017 levels. Many in hospitality will be predicting the good news to continue into July – CO2 shortage notwithstanding – as the recent heatwave is set to continue well into the month, while the latter stages of the World Cup and beginning of the school holidays will also boost footfall and sales.
Understaffing when sales are good can significantly damage your bottom line, and your reputation. S4Labour can help you rectify this, maximising profits and customer satisfaction. Call 01295 267400 or book a demo today.
by Abby Henson | 14 Mar, 2018 | Blog, Sales Figures
Life & Soul is a multi-site hospitality operator based in Cheshire. Its directors previously ran the DV8 cocktail bars brand and following the sale of two sites last year established Life & Soul as a new entity. The company has flourished since, with its Rumba Macclesfield venue claiming the Best Turnaround prize at the prestigious Great British Pub Awards 2017.
We caught up with Managing Director Martin Holmes – who has been using S4Labour in his sites since early 2016 – to discuss his business, its development, and how S4Labour helps drive its sustained success.
A typical night at Rumba
Can we have a quick introduction to your business?
We currently run three venues in Cheshire. At the core of the business is the Rumba brand, two wet-led sites offering cocktails to a lively crowd. We also operate The Castle Inn, a destination country pub with an emphasis on fresh, local, quality food. We’re growing fast and are in the process of opening a third Rumba, the biggest yet with a more developed food offer, as well as a fine dining restaurant, Cloud View, also in Cheshire.
How was the company founded and developed to its current form?
Chris Carsons, our CEO opened the first DV8 Bar in 2008. I have known Chris for around 12 years, but our paths crossed again in 2015 through my audit work. Together, we quickly saw the potential of the business, adding sites and developing the Rumba concept. Last year we took the decision to sell the DV8 sites to focus on Rumba. We’re still eager to operate quality venues outside of Rumba when the right opportunities arise, so took on the lease to the Castle Inn just outside Congleton. It’s a traditional country pub on the fringes of the Staffordshire Moorlands, and is equally popular with tourists and the local crowd. It’s been a great success so far, with like for like sales up 40% since we took over.
How is the business structured today?
We try to keep a flat structure, with lots of communication between the sites and senior management, and management taking an active interest in operations at site level. We’ve been investing in our infrastructure to allow for future growth, so have recently appointed two accounts administrators to bring our payroll in house, but wherever possible we promote internally. Since we started out, 90% of the appointments to management positions in our sites have been internal promotions, and we’re very proud of that.
The stunning Castle Inn, Congleton
What makes Life & Soul unique and successful?
We’ve always worked with a passion for delivering exceptional food, drink, and service, and it’s a mantra we embrace at all time, whether it’s 1AM on a Friday night in Rumba, or the middle of Sunday lunch service in the Castle Inn. We recognise that people are at the heart of this, so always aim to build great relationships with everyone from our bar staff, to our suppliers, to our landlords at Punch Taverns. We know how hard our teams work, so reward staff with trips to trade shows and the football, and give our managers a fund to spend on visiting other hospitality venues for inspiration. This means that we have very low employee turnover, especially in management positions – we’ve had one manager leave in three years – and as a result have a highly skilled and motivated workforce, dedicated to bringing special experiences to our customers. This was recognised in our category victory at the Great British Pub Awards last year, which was a fantastic reward for the hard work of everyone in our business.
What led you to decide that an advanced labour management solution would be of benefit to Life & Soul?
When we started out everything was very basic, with our labour managed using pen and paper and Excel spreadsheets. While that may have worked in the old days, it became clear that to build a business capable of expanding and thriving in the 21st century we needed to engage intelligent, modern systems across our operations.
What led you to decide that S4Labour was the best option?
After researching the market, I decided to implement Bleep EPoS across our sites. The people at Bleep recommended S4Labour as a great system for reducing costs, saving time, and giving insight into operations across multiple sites. From the first demonstration I could see that it would be a critical tool in our future.
S4Labour takes hourly sales data directly from Life & Soul’s EPoS
What other tools do you use in your business, and how have these been able to operate alongside, or been enhanced by, S4Labour?
The integration between S4Labour and our Bleep till systems has been a real asset, as it removes the task of manually entering sales into reports for our managers, and gives us detailed insight into sales by hour across all areas of our sites. We also manage our time and attendance through the integrated system, with staff clocking in and out on the EPoS terminals and S4Labour highlighting discrepancies from their scheduled shifts. It’s a massive improvement on our previous timesheet process.
The payroll exports we take from S4Labour conveniently feed our payroll process, making sure everyone gets paid correctly. Also, the reports we get from our reservation software reinforce what S4Labour shows us about busy and quiet times in our sites, allowing us to best deploy staff.
How have processes changed as a result of using S4Labour?
We have a group of very bright, young, enthusiastic managers who have really taken to S4Labour. Administrative time has been massively reduced with the removal of manual processes, and the engagement of hourly-paid staff with their roles has been improved by giving employees access to their rotas and holiday management tools online. From a head office perspective, we have been given such clarity of insight into our operations that we are able to make top level decisions with real confidence.
How has your experience been with S4Labour’s HR Module?
The HR Module has been a relatively recent introduction for us, and we’re in the process of transitioning to use the full functionality, but it’s evident that it’s a really useful tool. Bringing all HR documentation into one online space is a huge benefit, and the digital contracts are a particularly valuable feature. Disciplinary issues and grievances are very rare in our business, but the tools for managing them online will be very welcome when they do arise.
How has your relationship been with individuals within S4Labour?
Having a support desk service at S4Labour seven days a week is a real benefit, and the support staff have always been very helpful and timely in their responses. We’ve been working closely with our account manager Tobias recently, and I can’t fault his knowledge or effort. I know he comes from an operational background with some very good companies, so we always feel his guidance comes from a wealth of relevant experience.
Tobias Collison oversees Life & Soul’s S4Labour account
What’s next for Life & Soul?
Expansion is very much in our sights. We’re making good progress on the new Rumba and Cloud View sites and have our eyes open for more opportunities. With the help of S4Labour, our core infrastructure is in such good shape that we believe we’re in a position to add three or four further sites in the next few years. We don’t want to grow so fast we prejudice the high standards we pride ourselves on setting, but we’re confident that we’ve done the groundwork that will allow us to react quickly when the right opportunities do arise.
How do you plan to use S4Labour in the future to further improve processes and drive ongoing success?
We will continue the work we have started to streamline our HR processes through S4Labour, and as we add more sites will doubtless benefit from the easy visibility of trading conditions across the estate it brings, as well as the functionalities, like employee transfers, specifically designed for multi-site operators. The cost-saving aspect of S4Labour will continue to promote our profitability through the next few years and hopefully beyond.
What challenges do you face?
We’re generally pretty confident that we have our business in condition to deal with whatever tomorrow brings, but like most, we’re currently feeling the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. We may well see a labour shortage in the big cities, which would have a knock-on affect for the wider industry, so we’ll have to continue to ensure that working for us is an attractive prospect for the most talented individuals. Rents, business rates, and commodity costs are all on the rise, so keeping our labour spend down without compromising service, which S4Labour allows us to do, is a real benefit to us.
What advice would you give another operator that was looking to engage S4Labour?
I would certainly recommend it. There’s no way we could be doing what we are today without S4Labour. I would advise them to take a detailed and honest look at their current processes and identify the areas S4Labour could save them time and money. With the value of the savings across single and multiple sites and the quality of insight the reports give, the decision should be a simple one.
Are you able to give any tangible figures for savings you’ve achieved by using S4Labour?
I can say that we have comfortably saved 5% on our labour bill. It’s hard to put a cash figure on that as our number of sites has been fluid over the last couple of years, but it’s safe to say that the financial and time savings have been a significant factor in our success.
by Abby Henson | 5 Mar, 2018 | Blog, Sales Figures
Analysis of over 100 organisations using S4Labour showed positive sales growth for the majority of operators last month.
Bad weather hit late-month revenues
Our latest research into revenues at operators across all sectors of hospitality revealed an average increase in sales of 0.2% on February 2017 levels.
This was primarily driven by wet-led businesses, which enjoyed on average a 4.8% uplift across their sites. Food-focused venues typically experienced a tougher month, seeing on average a 0.6% fall in sales. The restaurant and casual dining sectors were particularly badly hit by the severe weather that arrived towards the end of the month, with many sites struggling with cancellations and delivery logistics, and some closing outright. The Castle Inn in Spofforth, North Yorkshire, part of out own Malvern Inns brand, saw temperatures 13 degrees colder than last year on the final day of the month and food sales 60% down as a result.
As well as identifying and reducing overstaffing, S4Labour helps its users drive increased sales by highlighting times when front of house and kitchen teams are likely to be stretched too thin. This allows managers to write optimal rotas, ensuring sales opportunities are not missed and service levels remain high, leading to increased sales both in the short term and longer term through valuable repeat custom.
by Abby Henson | 10 Nov, 2017 | Blog, Sales Figures
With the festive season just around the corner, it is important for hospitality businesses to strategically plan for the increased demand during the weeks and months ahead. Accurate sales forecasting will ensure operators get the most from this busy period.
Accuracy is Key
Many businesses will under-forecast in order to keep labour costs low, and whilst coming in under your wage budget may seem like a positive, this ultimately leads to poor customer service and missed sales opportunities. With a large amount of business being driven by word of mouth and repeat custom, providing poor customer service is not sustainable. In contrast, over-forecasting in order to protect service levels will result in too many staff members being scheduled and excess spend on labour. The aim therefore, should not be for operators to beat their forecast, but rather get as close to it as possible.
Efficient Deployment
The most evident benefit arising from an accurate sales forecast is more efficient deployment of labour. Mapping labour deployment against sales forecasts will ensure operators always have enough staff on shift to deal with demand, but not too many to lead to staff standing idle. This will maintain a high standard of customer service, as staff will have time to provide every customer with the attention they deserve, while still working briskly.
Stocking Up
Another benefit of producing a precise sales forecast is the positive impact on product ordering and supply. Having a detailed forecast of sales throughout the day and week will help managers avoid over or under ordering stock. Over ordering can have a significant negative impact on profit margins, with excess stock going to wastage. Similarly, under ordering can have a negative impact – if a venue runs out of stock and cannot provide everything offered on the menu, customer experience will be impacted. Forecasting sales accurately will provide operators with a good guide on the required level of products for the week.
The benefits of accurate forecasting are clear to see, but how can we improve?
Split Your Forecast
When it comes to forecasting, the devil is in the details. Accuracy can be increased by forecasting on a daily and hourly basis, as well as splitting your forecast into different revenue streams. For example, you may predict the same amount of overall sales on a Saturday and Sunday, however sales on a Saturday will typically be predominantly wet, meaning more bar staff are required in the evening. Contrastingly, for many operators, Sunday lunch service sees Sunday’s food sales the week’s highest, increasing daytime demand for kitchen staff. Operators who split their forecast by revenue stream will see the accuracy of their labour deployment increase.
Organise Your Calendar
Annual and one-off events can have a huge impact upon sales. The Christmas period is a prime example of this, with operators experiencing a large spike in sales caused by Christmas dinners, parties, and other bookings. However, during the months following Christmas, we would expect to see a drop in sales, particularly with the increasingly popular ‘Dry January’ trend making customers less likely to buy alcohol, highlighting the importance of forecasting by revenue stream.
One-off events should also be considered. With a suitable promotion strategy in place, venues can dramatically boost sales by showing sporting events such as the Autumn International rugby matches or Pay-Per-View boxing bouts. Research carried out by MatchPint and Vianet found that on average an additional 22 pints of beer were sold per hour during the Mayweather vs McGregor boxing match in August. Shrewd operators will react to this increase in sales by ensuring they have ample staff on shift at these times to keep up with the increased demand. Ordering may also need to be adjusted. With beer sales likely to increase during sporting events, operators will need to review their drinks forecasts and ensure they are suitably stocked up.
Factor in the Home
Hospitality businesses now face more competition from the home than ever, as a continually increasing level of entertainment is available to the public from the comfort of their living rooms. Use of delivery services is also on the rise, and with Deliveroo reporting a 611% revenue increase in 2016, there is an increasing tendency for customers to stay in on Saturday, and other, nights. In forecasting terms, it is important to factor in specific television events such as ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and ‘The X Factor’. With roughly nine million people tuning in to Strictly and around five million watching The X Factor, Saturday night sales may take a hit during the running periods of these shows.
Turn to Data
Sometimes we need to look back before we can move forward, and while reviewing historical data may seem like a time-consuming exercise for management staff, it is a vital stage of forecasting and should not be overlooked. Fortunately, technological advances over recent years have led to analysis of data at the click of a button.
Assessing last year’s sales figures will provide information on how a business fared during the same week last year. This data is particularly useful when used in conjunction with your events calendar as you will be able to quantify the impact of an annual occurrence such as Freshers’ week in university towns.
Another key factor to consider is forecasts from previous weeks. By comparing previous forecasts to actual sales, managers will be able to see how accurately they have been forecasting, and make adjustments to their future forecasts accordingly.
Click here to find out more about how S4Labour can revolutionise your sales forecasting.
Watch the Weather
It is usually important for operators to factor in the weather, as this will have a direct impact upon levels of sales for many sites. This can be considered on a seasonal and daily level – shorter winter evenings will cause a drop in sales, whereas an unexpected hot weekend could cause a sudden spike. S4Labour has a direct link to Met Office weather forecasts geo-located by site, offering users accurate and up-to-date information on which to base forecasts.
S4Labour’s intelligent system recommends the optimum staffing levels based on users’ sales forecasts. This takes the guesswork out of labour allocation and ensures accurate forecasting is translated into success. Click here to find out more about the impact S4Labour could have on your business.
by Abby Henson | 12 Oct, 2017 | Blog, Sales Figures
S4Labour are continuing our sponsorship of Propel events with the final Multi-Club Conference of 2017. The conference will take place on Wednesday 1st November at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in London.
We will have a stand in the refreshments and networking area and will be available throughout the day to discuss controlling costs, driving greater sales, improving HR processes, and just about anything else of interest.
The day will as ever see a host of informative and inspiring speakers from all sectors of hospitality taking the stage. Amongst them will be Darrel Connel of investment fund Imbiba, which backs several S4Labour clients, and Richard Boon, founder of burger concept Hubbox, who recently signed up to use our labour scheduling and HR software. The full schedule for the day can be viewed here.
Operators of multi-site companies can claim two free places at the conference, which will also provide ample opportunities for networking with some of the industry’s most skilled and visionary figures.
As demonstrated by the summer conference, Propel events are always a fantastic opportunity to hear from and interact with hospitality’s best people. We’re looking forward to seeing many S4Labour customers – old, new, and future – there.
